Different Memories, Separate Lives
by Eilinora
Summary: Axel is stranded on the world of Earth. He locates Roxas, but this world's Roxas has no connection to the one Axel knew before. Even so, his obsession with the boy refuses to fade. Old, may or may not be rewritten at some point.
1. The Owner of a Common Thought

**Different Memories, Separate Lives**

**Chapter I: The Owner of a Common Thought**

How had this happened?

This thought, with its indiscriminate wording and universal meaning, could have belonged to anybody and been applied to anything. In fact, on any given city street, it could safely be said that at least a dozen people within view held this thought inside their minds.

However, in this particular case, the thought belonged to only one person. Although he stood at the corner of a city street, as in the description above, if any other person had been thinking that same thought, one glance at the man would instantly change their dominant thought from that to something along the lines of, "What happened to _him_?"

If there ever was a true owner of that contemplative line, it would have been him. It had run itself through his mind so many times in the past few days; there had barely been room for anything else. Mostly it was thought or spoken in sheer bewilderment, as he worked tiredly to express confusion at the situation he was in. But now, the words were taking on a new meaning. They were no longer directed at what had gone on in _his_ life, but instead, in the life of who he was watching…

His attention was focused on a group of people inside a… Coffee place or restaurant thing, he still didn't know what kind of label to put on this type of building. Near the large front window, they all sat, as though they were purposely put on display for him to see. There were five of them, two girls and three boys. All of them had caught his eye, for he had seen them all before. But the last time he had seen them, the situation had been very different… And they'd all looked different, too.

There was a brunette girl who looked as though she did her best to be trendy—He didn't know much about whatever styles were popular here, but since her clothing and hair were mostly indistinguishable from what he'd seen on other people in his few days here, he assumed she kept on top of the latest fashions. Seated to her right, there was a guy who seemed to think himself to be a punk, based on his purple hair and mangled black clothing. To the girl's right, in stark contrast, there was a brunette boy who looked as though his mother still laid out his clothes for him every morning before waking him up with a kiss to start the day.

He supposed that was how the kid was always bound to end up, had he not been forced to cultivate some independence.

Across the table, there was a small and noticeably pale blonde girl, whose disheveled hair and mismatched clothing suggested that her mind was usually elsewhere. And seated beside her… There sat the main focus of his attention. It had taken his eyes a short while to wander over to him; perhaps they were fearful of what they would see. Maybe there would be a different boy there, or an empty seat… But as soon as he looked, he could tell instantly that it was him. A boy with golden hair and perfectly tanned skin, with eyes that could be cut out and sold as two flawless, deep blue sapphires…

His outfit looked as though he'd had a bad run-in with too many of the popular clothing stores he'd seen, but then again, he'd always preferred him in a plain black leather cloak or nothing at all.

He'd simply stood and gazed upon the group for the longest time, trying to decide what to do. He still knew precious little about this world, and he had no idea how his appearance would be received by the boy… After all, the last time he'd come to him out of nowhere, it hadn't ended well. And with this many people around… He'd decided that, no. he couldn't risk going up to him right now. He might need proper time to explain things, and it would be difficult to do that in public. And if his first introduction didn't go over well, then he could lose his only chance to be with him…

He'd thought that he'd lost his only chance to be with him so many times already. So many times… Fights in the Organization that had usually ended up with one or both of them maimed and angered, he'd think that either he or the kid had screwed things up too badly for them to make amends. His act of leaving the Organization to find whatever meaning that damn Keyblade had in 'choosing him'. How he hadn't remembered him when he'd found him in fake town… And then, how he'd remembered, but too late. And when he had faded away without getting the chance to say goodbye…

_"We'll meet again… In the next life."  
"Yeah. I'll be waiting."   
"…Silly. Just because you have a next life…"_

Those had been his parting words, the last time he had seen him. Though the bewildered boy had agreed to them, he himself hadn't placed any faith in them. After all… He was a Nobody, and the boy was a Nobody—or, had been at the time, anyway. He'd supposedly become 'whole', after… But Nobodies weren't supposed to have next lives. They didn't have beings, or souls, that could be passed on to another life. They never truly lived, and never truly died. They simply appeared, and faded away…

He'd faded away after saving the boy's other half from a swarm of attackers. He'd spent what seemed like eternity, but just as easily could have been a day, in the timeless void, waiting for whatever fate come his way… Waiting… Waiting… Waiting. And then he'd drifted off, in what he assumed was a Nobody's form of death, but what ended up seeming no more than a simple sleep, for he'd woken up… Here.

Where was 'here'? He didn't know. He'd inquired around, and eventually discovered that he was on a world called 'Earth', but… He didn't recognize this name of the place at all, and his knowledge of geography, while not top-notch, wasn't so bad that he'd have forgotten the existence of a world. He'd tried asking again, to see if there'd been a mistake or if he'd misheard the person's words, but people tended to look at him strangely whenever he asked. Perhaps this was one of those worlds that the other worlds had no knowledge of, and that had no knowledge about the existence of others…

But this confusion had led him to another hypothesis, one which seemed to be far more likely. Maybe this world wasn't real after all. Perhaps it was just another simulated town, where he was being kept until the Organization could pull him out and use him again… Or something like that…

Even if the world wasn't real, though, he knew he would have to find his place in it, so he could examine it without attracting so much attention. Because if this ended up being some purgatory, or maybe a hell, that he would spend eternity in, then it would be best if he could find a way to enjoy it, and it was hard to do that without first learning what there was to do. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he still stuck out in a crowd. After all, he was tall and pale with long, spiked red hair, and he had a penchant for black leather, after having worn it all his life. The markings on his face, no matter how small they were, didn't do him one bit of good either.

That was why, during his increasingly long vigil, he had begun to attract more and more stares. He was hardly aware of them, though. The amount of attention he paid to the boy left little room for him to notice anything else.

He didn't know how long it was before he'd begun to notice something strange. The main focus of his attention, and the girl he was sitting beside… He felt as though there was some kind of connection between them. Although it seemed that everyone in the group was friends with one another, these two had something… Something more… But he pushed the thought out of his head. No, that wasn't possible. Last he'd known, the two of them had nothing between them. They were a jailer and her captive, and that was all. He'd hated her… In the last life…

…In the last life…

…But in this life…

…Something had…

…Changed…

His thoughts were shattered and thrown apart as he saw the two of them lock lips. He was only able to watch, his mind a blank and his jaw agape, as he saw the two of them… No, this wasn't true. His mind had teamed up with his eyes and they were both playing some kind of cruel trick on him. This wasn't… _real_, it couldn't be…

But it was.

He'd thought, when he first saw him, that this life would give then the chance to try again. For one final time, they could try to make things work… But Roxas had already found someone.

How had this happened?

Maybe this was Hell after all.

Notes: Okay. This is a little story I wrote. As with many of my stories, I'm not sure how good it is, or if the idea is overused, stupid, etc. Because, as I've said, I don't like to hang around the fanfiction areas of some of the more popular fandoms, because of reasons many true fans would probably understand.

Anyway, I'm not sure if/when I'll be writing the second chapter. Yes, I'll probably end up writing a second chapter, because a few of my friends have already requested it. I hope my writing can bring joy into my readers' lives. Or… Something. Besides, I've been wanting to write this story for a while, and I really enjoyed writing the first chapter. And for once, I'm somewhat pleased with how it turned out. So, if you enjoyed this installment, perhaps I'll see you next time


	2. Could it Lead to Greater Things?

A/N: Before you start reading, please listen to this. I hate this chapter. I hate it with all my heart and all my soul. I hate writing anything that even looks like it might support the Roxas/Naminé pairing, first of all… And this whole thing just felt like some noob author's generic chapter. It pained me more than anyone can know to write this, but it had to be done. I needed to lay the groundwork for the story, and this chapter was necessary for that, so… Yeah. Just bear with me through this chapter, please.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend Nicola, who taught me how to work a temporary fake Roxas/Naminé pairing. That's right, I said the words 'temporary' and 'fake'. If the above mini-rant wasn't enough, I hate that pairing. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I hate all heterosexual Kingdom Hearts pairings. And maybe I'll go so far as to say there won't be any in this fic.

(Homophobes stop reading here.)

**Could it Lead to Greater Things? **

_- Roxas -_

"Come on, you know you want to."

"No, I don't."

"You do!"

"I don't!"

"Yes!" 

"_No_!"

It had taken a remarkably short amount of time for our conversation to degrade into this childish, cyclical argument. Then again, I couldn't say that I hadn't expected it to end up this way. The topic we were on had gone this route before, so it was easy to predict that a return to the subject would result in a parallel discussion…

It was Kairi's fault, really, that I was pitted against three people who apparently had nothing better to do than to toss monosyllabic taunts in my direction. She had gotten everything started, by giving a long, boring speech, punctured with both miniature sobs and curses, about her now ex-boyfriend—Who, apparently, was nothing but a self-centered bastard asshole that only made her life miserable, but was still a really nice guy at heart and the fact that he had left her was the most depressing thing ever to happen to her, _much_ more upsetting than the breakups with her past several dozen boyfriends, and she wanted him back so bad, and who did that dick think he was for leaving her all alone, she'd _kill_ him the next time she saw him, but she missed him _so much_, and how she longed to feel his sweet, sweet lips against hers again…

Partway through her rant, the males in the group had pretty much tuned her out. Not just because we lacked her overemotional and moody brain, and therefore were rendered useless in the area of hoping to understand any point she made about this subject, but because it was much easier to show sympathy for these things the first time you heard them ranted about. This must have been her tenth "totally traumatic" breakup this year, and it was only the first week of February.

Well, Riku was the first one in the group to get completely fed up with her rant, as was usually the case. Being the ever-helpful man he was, he took it upon himself to change the subject.

"Hey, Roxas, what about you?" he said, breaking Kairi off in the middle of her angry tirade about how her ex had been so cheap on their first date. "Have you had any interesting romantic experiences lately?"

He already knew the answer. Damn him and his trap questions.

"No, I haven't," I said, "and it's because—"

"You know, I bet _I_ know why," Sora interjected. How the hell could he know why when nobody had ever let me finish that sentence? "It's because your heart belongs to someone special, right?" He looked at me for confirmation, and I paused, considering whether his words had been meant as a taunt, or if he was just being eager and stupid again. I finally decided to go with what my answer would be either way.

"No, it's not that," I said, trying to explain myself again. "It's because—"

"Oh, and I know who that special someone is," Riku continued, going off Sora's last statement. "I bet it's the person you're sitting next to right now, isn't it?" 

"Wha-?" I turned to my side, as though I had forgotten who was there, and saw Naminé. At my glance, she began to blush, her cheeks darkening to a shade of crimson. I looked back across the table, at the two grinning faces. "_What_?" Where the hell were they getting this idea from?

"Yeah, I bet that's it," Riku said, a snicker present in his words. Apparently, this whole thing was some sort of a hilarious joke to him. "How adorable, little Roxas has a secret love…"

"I do not!" Color had begun to rise in my face, as well, from both embarrassment and anger. What right had they to tease me like this? It was childish, and stupid, and utterly ridiculous… And nobody would shut up.

"I bet you wanna kiss her, eh?" Seriously, didn't this guy have anything better to do? "C'mon… I _dare_ you."

"Shut up."

"Come on, you know you want to."

"No, I don't."

"You do!" Now Sora was getting in on this, too. Fantastic.

"I don't!" 

"Yes!" Even Kairi had taken a break from her rant to chime in and take her turn at 'Torture-the-Boy-With-No-Romantic-Life', which was, in a way, rather amazing. If this game had such power, perhaps someone should patent it and use it as a method of deferring overemotional girls everywhere from their rants. Of course, it would be preferable to me if they used someone else's name in the title… But I digress. 

"_No_!" My fist slammed onto the table, an obvious signal of my frustration. "What the hell is wrong with you people? I mean… Amusing you isn't a good reason for me to do that. And…" I feebly grasped at straws in my mind, trying to find something, _anything_ that would get them off my case. "And… I'm sure Naminé doesn't want to either." I looked desperately in her direction. "Right…?"

By now, Naminé looked as though she was about to melt into an embarrassed puddle. Just looking at her made me feel awkward and uncomfortable, as though she had such a level of those feelings brewing inside her that some had escaped in the form of radiation that affected the people around her, transferring her emotions to whoever they touched…

And her response, when it came, did nothing to alleviate the tension that was rapidly forming.

"I…" Her eyes were cast downward, and her face was still flushed in embarrassment. "I… I wouldn't mind either way," she stammered out. Apparently, she didn't think her face would completely betray her words.

Terrific. So, there was no way out of this, after all. Fine, I'd give them what they wanted—if nothing else, to shut them up. I leaned over, and placed my lips on Naminé's…

After a few moments, I pulled away. It had been exactly like I'd predicted—Normal and boring. That was how kisses tended to be when there was no emotion in them. But although I didn't find it to be very interesting, I couldn't say the same thing for my so-called friends on the other side of the table.

Riku looked positively giddy with his own sense of superiority. Apparently, he was very pleased that he had gotten me to do such a thing. "Haha, you _do_ like her!" he said, his words choked with repressed laughter. "So what're you going to do now? Go have se—"

My fist came down on the table again, but unfortunately, the motion was considerably less dramatic than it had been before. My hand caught the raised edge of the plate that was in front of me, and a lever effect made the other side swing upward, throwing a fork that had been resting on it into the air behind my head. For a moment, we all fell silent and watched it, until it hit its target… Squarely between the eyes of a middle-aged woman who sat in a seat behind me.

The lady rose up angrily, pointing an accusing finger at me. "You! Get over here, you little punk! I'll teach you a lesson! Kids today, they have no respect! Come here, and—"

I sighed. "Dammit, let's get out of here, this woman rants worse than Kairi." Besides, it would be best to leave before trouble ensued.

So we left the money for the bill on the table, and walked out the door. Thoughts of the forced kiss were already being driven out of my mind. After all, it had meant nothing. I could only assume Naminé was feeling the same way.


	3. Defense Provided by a Misconception

A/N: I apologize for the long space between updates. I had many things pop up that I had to tend to, including midterms… Anyway, I'm still doing well, regardless of my slow writing. This is the first time in over a _year and a half_ I've written a fic that's made it to chapter three.

I feel happy…

Brief summary of this chapter: Roxas hates fangirls.

**Different Memories, Separate Lives**  
**Chapter III: Defense Provided by a Misconception **

_-Roxas-_

School was the prison I spent five out of seven days of the week trying to escape. And, unfortunately, it was where I was currently located.

The classes for the day had not yet started. Everybody was enjoying the precious few minutes of spare time between entering school and going to their first-period lessons, and treating the building for what it truly was—a brick-and-glass forum for the most pointless discussions known to man. I was surrounded by needlessly in-depth, excruciatingly boring dialogues about who had skipped what homework assignment, who had eaten what for breakfast, who was currently dating who…

The conversations about dating… Those were the worst. I'd never really gotten into the whole 'romance' thing, myself, and I had a strong feeling that this was mostly due to the overdose of mindless drivel my ears had consumed on that very subject. I'd never even managed to feign, let alone actually conjure up any interest about the horribly teen-romance-cliché dating lives of my classmates. The mere thought of engaging in such behavior myself… It was nearly enough to put me to sleep.

And it was for this very reason I hadn't yet "broken up" with Naminé.

Of course, to be more precise, we had never been "going out" in the first place. But Kairi was a gossip, and word quickly spread about the kiss Naminé and I had shared on a dare several days ago. And because ninety-nine percent of the minds in this school apparently worked along the same wavelength as hers, it was automatically assumed by just about everyone that I'd finally found myself a girlfriend.

I'd tried to dispel the rumors at first, of course. I've never liked anybody whispering about me behind my back, especially when their hushed words held no speck of truth. But I soon found that it was impossible to set the record straight. Nobody would believe me—instead, this just gave the flames of gossip more wood to feed upon. People began hinting that I was some sort of shy romantic that didn't like people to know about the deep inner feelings I apparently held…

So I'd given up, and resorted to simply hoping the news would become old quickly. But while thinking about my situation, I realized that, in a strange sort of way, the false rumor could actually help me. It was February, after all, and Valentine's Day was quickly approaching. A more appropriate title for that day could be, "The Day All the Single Men Dread". All throughout the year, girls always approached me, trying to coolest one among their friends by snagging a date with the deep, mysterious, blonde hottie that never dated anyone… Whatever the hell it was they saw me as. And all throughout the year, I continued my futile attempts to make them leave me alone. Those periodic attempts were bad enough, but in the weeks directly before Valentine's Day, things became much worse. Suddenly, every girl was climbing over every guy like ants over candy, trying to find a vessel that would allow them to reenact the Perfect Valentine's Day Romance they'd seen on every chick movie ever made… And the ones who were considered cool, mysterious, and hot, unfortunately, precisely fit the description of the Perfect Valentine's Day Man.

Every Valentine's Day since the girls in my school had entered puberty, it was the same routine… Turn down invitations to the school dance, provide some excuse that _seems_ acceptable to you, realize that somehow the girls can see through it, and proceed to deal with their whiny protests. And it wasn't as though you were able to fake already having a date. It seemed that every female in the school had in-depth knowledge of every single relationship that existed within its walls, and throwing out random names would never work. The only way to escape the cycle was to accept an invitation from one girl, deal with her until the stupid school dance was over, dump her, and go back to normal life. 

Now, I had a defense against the whole thing. Every girl in the school had decided I was going out with Naminé. The only ones who approached me were those who wanted me to leave her and go with them instead… But it was easier to deal with them than with a constant stream of requested dates and dance invitations. And Naminé, especially by the typical standards of the girls in this school, was not so very annoying…

So I'd decided to stay "with her", at least until Valentine's Day had passed. After that… I wasn't sure what I'd do. Perhaps I'd stay in the "relationship" for a while longer. It couldn't hurt… It would keep the other girls off my back, at least. And who knew? Maybe, if I kept this up, I'd actually be able to summon up the feelings I'd been unsuccessful in conjuring so far.

And if I had intentions of making this work with Naminé as a real relationship after all, then this didn't count as using her…

The sound of a ringing school bell made me snap back to reality. The first class of the day was starting, and I had to get to the appropriate room. For now, I had to push all these thoughts to the back of my mind. They were the kind of thoughts I wasn't supposed to have, anyway… I shouldn't be thinking about relationships, for any reasons. When I realized what I'd spent the past several minutes contemplating, I only felt stupid.

I grabbed my books and headed off to class. Surely a good, solid 45 minutes of sleeping time would help me become myself again.

_-Axel-_

The few days I'd spent in this place so far had not been enjoyable, to put it mildly. 

Having been stranded here completely destitute, bereft of anything needed to make my way around the world, I ended up wandering aimlessly from place to place, trying to figure out how things worked. It wasn't as though I was new to visiting foreign worlds; it was that up until now, that had been all my trips were—visits. Never before had I been stuck in a place I couldn't escape… And never before had I been completely cut off from the backup and support of the other members of the Organization. Being stuck in a place I knew nothing about, with no provisions, and no plans, was a completely new experience for me.

Luckily, keeping a cool head in heated situations was something I prided myself on. After all, my very title was the "Flurry of Dancing Flames". A little heat was nothing I couldn't handle. And, it wasn't like this was the worst situation I'd ever been in. I couldn't get anything to eat or find a place to stay, but those things were luxuries, not necessities. After all, I was a Nobody, not a human, and this was one of the times that came in handy.

Really… The only thing that really got to me was Roxas. I hadn't seen him since I'd first sighted him from across the street, and this bothered me. I'd laid out plans to find him, talk to him at an opportune moment, and see whether or not he would remember me… And if he didn't, I'd decided, I would just remind him. I had done it once before, after all. How hard could it be to do it again?

Well, as I was currently discovering, it could be _very_ hard when you couldn't even find the person you wanted to talk to.

I didn't know how I was supposed to locate him once more. I had been lucky to spot him the first time in an unplanned encounter, and I doubted I'd be so fortunate again. I'd have to put some effort into it if I wanted to discover where he was. I'd have to find out all the places he could possibly be, and watch them ceaselessly until he showed up at one. And once I knew where he'd go, I could watch and wait for an opportune moment, and then go to speak with him…

It would be difficult to find him, let alone force him to remember me, if he'd forgotten. But I'd have to find a way. After all, there was nothing in this world I was able to enjoy, at least in my current state. The fact that Roxas resided here was this world's one saving grace. If I couldn't live alongside him, slipping into a boredom-induced insanity was a quite real possibility.


End file.
